


No Matter What Cards Fate Plays

by rosettared



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Destiny, F/M, Late Night Conversations, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Post-Reveal Love Square, kiss, mentions of popular AUs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 12:31:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14081016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosettared/pseuds/rosettared
Summary: When Adrien reflects on how grateful he is that Marinette walked - or crashed - into his life, he gives her different situations in which they could've met. He firmly believes that no matter how it happened, fate always found a way to bring them to each other, one way or another.





	No Matter What Cards Fate Plays

**Author's Note:**

> This was based on this art piece by @shaniartist on tumblr!

 

Adrien couldn’t believe his luck. For wielding one of the two most powerful miraculouses in history and being the literal embodiment of destruction for the past four years, it would have made more sense if things blew up every time a nerve was hit, or if someone pressed his buttons too hard, or if he was generally not having it on a particularly rough day. In fact, he felt ashamed to admit that he was slightly disappointed that those things never happened like they did in the movies. 

Yet he stood on the balcony overlooking the Seine, taking in with slow deep breaths the serenity of the still midnight air, thanking each and every star in the night sky for all his life’s blessings. 

If he could, somehow, travel to the past and give just one message to his naive younger self, it was to never stop hoping. To never stop hoping that he would be allowed to go to school. To never stop hoping that he would be allowed to make more real friends. To never stop hoping that he would leave a mark on the world for being himself, and _not_  just as Adrien Agreste.

And most importantly, to never stop hoping that he would finally be loved the way he always wanted to be loved. 

“Oh, there you are,” Adrien’s ears perked up at the new voice behind him, one he would always welcome. He always heard honey lacing through her tone, her sweet melody ringing in his ears and often interrupting his train of thought. “I assumed you went to your litter box when I couldn’t find you in the living room, but this was a good guess too.” 

The sound of the skylight door slamming shut was quickly followed by that of light treads in his direction, and he turned around and leaned against the cold balcony railing to see what came before him. Marinette met him with a smile so sincere, so bright, so dazzling that the stars above their heads would cower in shame and envy. He returned her warm greetings with a smile of his own, but it just couldn’t match up with what she blessed him with everyday. 

Her smile used to be something he so fondly associated with his mother. He first thought of her smile of running through fields of green with her, of blowing dandelions and making wishes with her, of every hug and kiss and whisper of old childhood dreams he held so dearly to his heart.

Now, four years’ worth of new golden memories had brought her smile a whole new meaning. Memories of watching her grow out of her odd behaviour around him and instead embracing the fun and natural conversations he looked forward to. Seeing her headstrong and determined to live up to her honourable duties to save the city she loved. Experiencing the massive waves of relief and euphoria rush over the both of them, running towards each other the day he always longed for, the day four different people finally became two idiots hopelessly in love. 

His eyes took their time to register what he was seeing. Marinette came up to him with her hair in a messy bun, and she stood in her pyjamas, the infamous pair she had worn on their misadventures when he dragged her into his crazy celebrity disaster. She hugged a cookie jar to her chest, and he watched as he twisted the lid and took one out to offer him. “A treat for your thoughts?”

Even after all this time, he still couldn’t believe what he had, what was his. It shouldn’t have been possible that Marinette Dupain-Cheng, his dear friend that he only grew to care for more and more deeply with each passing day, was Paris’s very own Ladybug, the stubborn and dauntless partner he promised, from the very first day, to love with all his heart no matter who stood behind the mask. He didn’t like his chances that his wonderful classmate and the enigma of his best friend were one and the same, tied with a ribbon. He thought the idea of Marinette being Ladybug was much too good to be true, so he only ever let himself imagine that in his most farfetched fantasies.

And yet, there she was right in front of him. Waiting. 

Adrien gladly took the cookie from her fingers and took one big bite, living in the fact the treat was something he would almost never get to eat. He didn’t make eye contact with her and instead focused on the cookie, watching from his peripheral Marinette setting the jar on the floor. There was comfortable silence between them, except for the sounds of biting and chewing the cookies. It wasn’t until both of them had completely devoured their treats that he finally met her eyes and broke the silence.

“Do you ever think of what would happen if we _weren’t_ Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

He almost immediately regretted his choice of words, for her eyebrows lightly scrunched together and her smile quickly changed into a confused tight-lipped line. She looked away from him and towards the gently-flowing river, heaving a sigh. “It’s something I don’t like to think about, but… yeah. I do.”

Her fallen demeanour encouraged his to follow, and he didn’t like it. He wanted to do something about that, bring a more positive light to their discussion. “I mean, we would still be classmates, right? In a world I still have the guts to go against my father’s wishes to be trapped at home,” he joked, but it must’ve come out wrong because Marinette didn’t react. No rolling of eyes, no light chuckles, nothing. 

So he tried again. 

“Okay, forget what I said. Imagine a world where kwamis aren’t a thing,” he was so grateful that both Plagg and Tikki were asleep, lest he get an earful of offended and defensive complaints. “No miraculouses, no Great Guardian, nothing. Just two normal teenagers who haven’t met yet.” Marinette didn’t say anything, so Adrien took that as a sign to proceed with his hypothetical. “Say you work as a barista in a small-town café, and you just so happen to have this guy with blond hair and green eyes, that you notice comes around every day or so. He makes _hilarious_  puns, you make a new friend, you spend more time together, you fall in love, boom! Match made!” 

It was very faint, but he swore he heard her try not to giggle, so he tried again. “Okay, now imagine you’re in college. You’re still an aspiring fashion designer, you live alone and for some reason, you need a roommate. One day, the  _devilishly handsome_ son of your idol Gabriel Agreste decides to take up on your offer to move in with you.” 

Marinette finally turned her head to him and raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Wait, let me finish!” Adrien defended, and Marinette’s expression relaxed a tiny bit. “Things are weird between you two at first, but then you find that this guy is actually _way_ hotter than he really is and is the funniest guy you’ve ever met. You like him, he likes you, you become friends, you fall in love, boom! Match made again!”

She shook her head in disbelief and suppressed a brief laugh. “Nononono, that is _not_ how things would go.” _Excuse me?_ Adrien thought, bringing his hand to his heart with a gasp. How dare she reject his hypothetical! “While I do find him cute, I also realise that this guy is the most awkward person ever, he has the _worst_ sense of humour and is deprived of all things good in this world, like an actual chocolate-chip cookie.” 

Adrien burst into a quick fit of laughter at her own hypothetical, and he almost hated how she knew him so well. “ _Chaton_ , I don’t understand. What are you trying to say?”

He tried to calm down and let his laughs die a little before he took a few steps closer to Marinette, until they were both right in front each other, and he brought his left hand to cup her cheek, letting his thumb graze over her freckles. It felt like bliss to feel her lean into his palm, and reaching to grasp his hand in her own. His lips grew into a soft grin.

“Marinette, you crashed into me on our very first day as superheroes, but I think that wouldn’t have been the only way we could’ve met. It could’ve happen for any other reason, but we would still meet regardless. You’re still the driven designer, and I’m still the guy who models for the Gabriel-brand. Don’t you think that for whatever other reason you crash-land into my life, things would still end up the same way?”

Marinette said nothing, but stared at him with her wide blue eyes that sparkled in the moonlight, and suddenly his palm felt much warmer. “A lot has changed since I first met you. I can go to school, I have great friends, I’m finally more than just prim-and-perfect Adrien Agreste, son of a fashion designer. I can make jokes and ‘bad’ puns - which they _aren’t,_ by the way - and be free to be the goofball Adrien Agreste was never allowed to be. And most of all, I get to stand by your side everyday, and finally know what it’s like to love someone how I love you. You’re all the love and support I could ever ask for. I may not deserve someone like you, but you make me the happiest guy in the world. It’s no coincidence that we were meant to meet, Marinette. ”

She… she was speechless. Her blush darkened at his words, and she moved both her hands to hide her face from him. “You’re going to kill me one of these days if you keep saying things like that!” she said through her palms, but Adrien couldn’t find it in himself to be sorry. 

He chuckled. “I can’t say I regret them, My Lady. I mean every word.”

He held her hands in her own and gently brought them away from her face, and he looked into her eyes, seeing that she was desperate to change the topic in the pregnant silence. In a panic, she broke eye contact and looked up above them. She seemed to calm down a little, and she relaxed into his touch again when he laced their fingers together. “The stars are beautiful tonight,” she decided. 

Adrien, however, was not quite done with making her flustered, seeing how her reactions were almost as bad as when they were much younger. He could have a little fun, right? “Sometimes, I feel like the stars wanted us to meet. Like it was fate.”

Marinette’s cheeks burned bright again and she hit him on the arm, so it worked. “Adrien!”

He laughed again, and he released one hand so he could bring it to her cheek again. “Whatever serendipitous way we meet, it’s what happens afterwards that I’ll always thank fate for. Marinette, being your friend was a happy choice…” 

Neither of them were sure who took a step forward, but now they stood toe to toe, one of Marinette’s hands were on his shoulder and the other on the one cradling her face, and Adrien’s other hand moved to wrap around her waist to bring them closer together. Their foreheads touched, and their warm breaths mingled in the cold Parisian air. 

“… but falling in love with you was beyond my control.” 

Marinette looked up to meet his eyes, and grinned from cheek to cheek. “Shut up and kiss me already, you silly cat.” 

He really didn’t need to be asked, and every time their lips crashed together, Adrien reminded himself that he was holding his world, his love, his everything in his arms, and he would forever be grateful.


End file.
